This year's NCAA basketball tournament is expected to take a big bite out of workplace profits as businesses grapple with distracted employees, absenteeism and falling productivity.

Don't believe it?

A new survey found that nearly one-third of workers spend at least three hours a day following the tournament during work hours. Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates that March Madness will cost American companies at least $134 million in lost wages over the first two days of the tournament.

"Many companies will probably notice a significant drop in Internet speeds as employees start streaming games and clogging up the network's bandwidth," company CEO John Challenger said in a statement.

Challenger said workers will be busy organizing office pools, researching teams and planning viewing parties when they're supposed to be working.

One local economic expert agreed with that scenario.

"It is a real issue, but I think any estimate of how much productivity gets lost is hard to pin down because it's not something that gets measured by a large survey like unemployment," said Chris Tilly, director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. "But this kind of thing does happen. People are more likely to call in sick on a Friday or Monday, for example - we know that. "

Challenger based its lost productivity figure on the latest government statistics, which show that American workers earn an average of $22.38 per hour. If 3 million workers spend just one hour following the games instead of working, that equates to $67.1 million in lost or unproductive wages for one day. Multiply that by two and you get a little more than $134 million.

Tilly acknowledged that big events like the NCAA tournament and World Series do create workplace distractions as employees monitor the action on their computers, smartphones and other electronic devices.

But coming down hard on people who take the day off or spend a portion of their work day watching the games might backfire, he said.

"If you try to force everyone with an iron hand to show up when they don't want to be there ... that might lead to more dissatisfaction in the long run," Tilly said. "If it's really blatant you'd probably want to crack down, but many businesses try to look the other way. Some companies have a more flexible work style where someone could miss a day of work and make up for it the next day. "

Another survey from MSN and Impulse Research found that 66 percent of workers will be following March Madness during work hours. Twenty percent expect to spend one to two hours following the games, 14 percent plan to spend three to fours hours watching and 16 percent say they'll spend a whopping five hours or more glued to the games.

Thomas Mendoza doubts he'll spend that much time watching. But the 46-year-old Covina resident says he'll definitely be monitoring the action. Mendoza owns Garduno's, a Mexican restaurant in El Monte that has six big-screen TVs.

"I already started watching at nine oclock this morning," he said Thursday, with a chuckle. "I like to watch it because those young men really play their hearts out. They put a lot of effort into it. The professional teams only do that when they get to the playoffs. "

Mendoza said his employees are welcome to watch - providing they still get their work done and don't neglect customers.

"If it gets to be too much I'll just tell them they can't watch TV," he said.

Other die-hard NCAA fans opt to schedule their elective surgeries during March Madness so they can watch some of the games while they recuperate at home.

Urology Associates of Cape Cod in Massachusetts is even throwing in a free pizza for patients who schedule their vasectomies during the NCAA games.

The San Fernando Valley Urological Associates Medical Group hasn't gone that far. But Office Manager Ronna Berry, who schedules the clinic's surgeries, admits they've got a full schedule these days.

"This week and next week are my two busiest weeks for surgeries," Berry said. "I think a lot of people try to coordinate it with their spring break. Some are students and others are teachers, so they already have the time off. "